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Quotation from Six Metaphysical Meditations, with Hobbes's Objections and the Replies by Rene Descartes
“An Atheist from the memory of his past life may collect that he is awake, but he cannot know, that this _Sign_ is sufficient to make him _certain_, that he is not _deceived_, unless he know that he is _created_ by a _God_ that will not _deceive_ him”
Six Metaphysical Meditations, with Hobbes's Objections and the Replies, Answer to the Last Objection, trans. William Molyneux (1680)
The closing reply distinguishes having a reliable sign from knowing that the sign is reliable, which for Descartes requires knowledge of God.
Citation: "An Atheist from the memory of his past life may collect that he is awake, but he cannot know, that this _Sign_ is sufficient to make him _certain_, that he is not _deceived_, unless he know that he is _created_ by a _God_ that will not _deceive_ him" — Rene Descartes, Six Metaphysical Meditations, with Hobbes's Objections and the Replies, Answer to the Last Objection, trans. William Molyneux (1680). (id descartes-meditations-with-objections-q14)
